Field reports: Disease prompts call for shorter deer seasons

HUNTING – A reduction in antlerless deer hunting in northeastern Washington because of losses to last year’s blue tongue outbreak will be discussed at the Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting Friday and Saturday in Olympia.

Also on the agenda is a briefing on climate change effects on fish and wildlife management and a hearing on a proposal to buy 3,600 acres in the Simcoe Mountains of Klickitat County.

In April, the commission reduced the number of hunting days for antlerless deer for youth, seniors and hunters with disabilities after wildlife biologists estimated high losses in 2015 of white-tailed deer in some areas of far-Eastern Washington.

State Fish and Wildlife Department officials have proposed additional restrictions in antlerless white-tailed deer harvest for archery and muzzleloader hunters in northeastern Washington.

Mick Cope, department big-game program manager, said the archery season would be reduced to a handful of days and no muzzleloader antlerless hunting would be offered this year.

The white-tailed deer season in the region is proposed for Oct. 17-30, or Oct. 17-27 depending on the unit with any whitetail buck being legal in some units including 117 and 121, and a three-point minimum in others.

The late whitetail buck season would be Nov. 7-19.

Seniors 65 and older, disabled and youth hunters would have a reduced opportunity to harvest antlerless whitetails with a general tag this season. Only Mount Spokane Unit 124 would offer those groups a shot at antlerless deer for the full Oct. 17-30 general season.

Any whitetail would be fair game for those groups in any larger number of units during the late season.

The proposal would eliminate the expanded season for these groups offered last year just as the blue tongue epidemic was expanding.

Officials say they’ve shifted to a conservative management strategy because of ongoing surveys and uncertainty about the whitetail population.

“The proposed rule would make antlerless whitetail seasons the same as back in 2012,” Cope said, noting that those restricted seasons were adopted in response to the large deer losses during the winters of 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Ticks, Lyme disease

discussed by WSU

INSECTS – Information about deer ticks and Lyme disease will be presented by Washington State University staff in a free public program at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council building, 6116 N. Market St.

Chilco Mountain trail

only partially cleared

HIKING – Chilco Mountain Trail 14 south of Lake Pend Oreille is open from the north but a mess from the south, according to field reports this week.

The trail from the Bunco Road North Trailhead to the North Chilco summit has been cleared, thanks to volunteers.

But the going gets rough beyond that, according to Lynn Smith of Spokane Mountaineers.

Smith said south portions of the trail were hammered by wind over the winter. Smith and David Drum cleared some small trees, but counted 193 blowdowns from the north summit to the South Chilco summit and 161 blowdowns from the south summit to the South Trailhead.

Karen Kimball with Panhandle Back Country Horsemen says they’re planning to go up to Chilco on June 18 to do their annual log out.

Spokane Mountaineers volunteers regularly maintain popular trails on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, including Stevens Lakes and Snow Peak.

Club members were out recently to clear the trail to Revett Lake.

To join up with a crew, contact Smith at kslynndeb@hotmail.com.